2013 World Series: Tim McCarver looks forward to life after baseball

No, the Hall of Fame announcer, who will call his last World Series for FOX beginning Wednesday, Oct. 23, is more than prepared for life after the broadcast booth. In fact, he's ready to embrace his new lifestyle after 55 years in and around baseball.

"I'm handling it like it's a celebration, and it's certainly a celebration of that many years in the game and that many years doing postseason baseball. I'm enjoying every minute of it," he says to
Zap2it, laughing. "I've never done this before, and I didn't know whether you should be melancholy at a time like this or not. But I'm not; I'm not at all.

"And the other thing is I'm not retiring," he adds. "I'm backing off, and that's what should happen when you turn 72. ... It should happen because of the travel, because of the myriad things that are involved, particularly in postseason baseball. As a player and as an announcer, this will be my 27th [playoffs], three years as a player and 24 as a broadcaster, and that's enough."

As for his plans for the immediate future, McCarver mentions fine-tuning his syndicated "The Tim McCarver Show," his hobby of wine collecting and travel.

"I'm going to France in November," he says. "I was there last August, and my traveling companion speaks French, so she and I are going to Burgundy this year. We went to Normandy last year and Brittany and also to Rennes and Epernay, the Champagne areas. ... I suspect [we will be doing] a trip to France or Italy almost every year."

He also says he plans to make regular appearances at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies now that he is a member of the broadcasters wing.

"I will after this year," he says. "I didn't have time -- this was the first year that I had an opportunity to do that.

"You know, my grandson was 11 years old, and obviously he was wowed when he was up there (for McCarver's induction in 2012)," he says. "And he has told me he'd like to spend [a] week researching in Cooperstown. ... And as far as looking forward to something, [that would be] just the two of us in Cooperstown, researching whatever he wants to research that has to do with the game."